SAN DIEGO -- What stood out most from Logan Evans’ dominant outing on Friday against the Padres wasn’t necessarily the scoreless effort or poise in a hostile environment.
It was the rookie’s candor when speaking postgame about his current role on the Mariners’ Major League roster as an injury fill-in, one that probably won’t last for the entirety of the season, given that the club expects George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller back relatively soon.
“I don't know exactly know what my role is going to be all year,” Evans said after Seattle’s 5-1 win on Friday. “But for right now, it's just give the team a chance to win. I feel like I'm doing that. And obviously tonight, I felt like I executed that.”
Ranked as the Mariners’ No. 10 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Evans is making the most of this opportunity -- and leveraging his sponge-like mind to learn as much as he can.
A prime example occurred in his outing at Petco Park, where Evans -- who typically utilizes his “kitchen sink” arsenal -- was more deliberate with his fastball in an effort to keep one of MLB’s more potent lineups honest.
Evans threw his heaters (a four-seamer and sinker) just 20 times among his 89 pitches, almost exclusively early in counts. Doing so helped set up his secondaries for chases and/or weak contact.
“The main focus in between starts has been getting his fastball command and confidence settled,” Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth said. “Not that he's going to pitch off his fastballs or throw 80 percent heaters, like Bryan Woo. But when you need to throw a fastball, you've got to be able to use it, command it and he did that.”
The clearest such sequence was in Evans’ final matchup that night, against contact specialist Jake Cronenworth, who ripped a triple off him earlier. Evans generated two fouls with the heater to get into a putaway count, then he went to his changeup and forced Cronenworth to chase and roll over.
“That's where I need that fastball,” Evans said, “because it's a good weapon, but it's not my best. But, yeah, I’ve just got to keep them honest with it.”
Evans had just three strikeouts and didn’t generate a single whiff until the second time through the lineup, perhaps expected given that the Padres have MLB’s lowest K rate (18.4%). But he also kept them off the barrel, with only seven of the 21 balls in play against him hard-hit (anything 95 mph or higher).
Evans will carry a 2.57 ERA into his fifth career start on Wednesday in Chicago, after a scoring change from his May 4 outing in Arlington changed a hit to an error. And he’ll likely continue to lean more into his heaters as he furthers his player development.
Daniel Kramer covers the Mariners for MLB.com.